Liberty
Liberty (freedom) Rights and Restraints
Introduction to Liberty
Because completely unrestricted freedom of action would make peaceful human existence impossible, some restraints on freedom of action are necessary and inevitable. Virtually all codes of action recognize that basic limitation. Liberty is defined in such codes as the right of individuals to act without restraint as long as their actions do not interfere with the equivalent rights of others; acts that do violate the rights of others are rejected as license.
The nature and extent of the restraints to be imposed and the selection of the means of enforcing them have been important problems for philosophers and lawmakers throughout history. Almost all the solutions finally arrived at have recognized the fundamental need for a government, meaning an individual or group of individuals empowered to impose and enforce whatever restraints are deemed necessary. In modern times, great emphasis has also been placed on the need for laws to define the nature and extent of these restraints. The philosophy of anarchism is an exception; it objects to all governments as evil in themselves and substitutes an idealized society in which social restraint is achieved through individual observance of high ethical principles.
A perfect balance between the right of an individual to act without undue interference and the need of the community to restrain freedom of action has often been projected in theory but has never been achieved. The restraints imposed throughout most of history have been oppressive. History has been described as society’s progress from a state of anarchy, through periods of despotism during which liberty was nonexistent or restricted to one privileged group, to a state of liberty for every individual under democratic governments; history has thus been shaped by the natural desire of all people to be free.” (1)
Resources
Notes and References
- Information about Liberty in the Encarta Online Encyclopedia